Historic Highways of America Volume VII Part 3

Same. Scioto--Sandusky.

Same. Miami--Auglaize and Celoron's return route St. Mary. from the Ohio to Lake Erie.

Wabash--Lake Maumee--St. "The Wabash--Maumee Erie. Mary--Little River Trade Route."

("Pet.i.te Riviere.")

Wabash--Lake Wabash--St. Joseph.

Michigan.

Illinois--Lake Kankakee--St. Joseph.

Michigan.

Illinois--Lake Des Plaines--Illinois.

Michigan.

Mississippi-- Pigeon River--Lake of Direct route from Lake Michigan. the Woods. Georgian Bay and Lake Michigan to the Mississippi.

Lake Superior-- Green Bay--Fox-Wisconsin. "The Grand Portage."

Hudson Bay.

CHAPTER II

NEW ENGLAND--CANADIAN PORTAGES

The territory lying between the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic seaboard offers an unexcelled field for the study of portage paths and their part in the history of the continent. The student of this branch of archaeology finds at his disposal the admirable studies of Dr. William F. Ganong, which cover an important portion of this field.[35] From these studies (the best published account) the following general statements concerning Indian routes of travel are very enlightening:

"The Indians of New Brunswick, like others of North America, were, within certain limits, great wanderers. For hunting, war, or treaty making, they pa.s.sed incessantly not only throughout their own territory, but over that limit into the lands of other tribes. The Indian tribes of Acadia have never, within historic times, been at war with one another, but they joined in war against other tribes and mingled often with one another for that and other reasons. In facilities for such travels our Indians were exceptionally fortunate, for the Province is everywhere intersected by rivers readily navigable by their light canoes. Indeed I doubt if anywhere else in the world is an equal extent of territory so completely watered by navigable streams, or whether in any other country canoe navigation was ever brought to such a pitch of perfection or so exclusively relied upon for locomotion. The princ.i.p.al streams of the Province lead together curiously in pairs, the country is almost invariably easy to travel between their sources, and a route may be found in almost any desired direction.... No doubt, an Indian in selecting his route of travel to a given point, where more than one offered, would average up, as a white man would do, the advantages and drawbacks of each for that particular season, taking account of the length of the routes, amount of falls and portaging, the height of the water, etc., and his decision would be a resultant of all the conditions and would be different in different seasons. It is not easy to understand why so many routes from the St. John to Quebec were in use, unless some offered advantages at one time, others at another.

Between the heads of the princ.i.p.al rivers were portage paths. Some of these are but a mile or two long--others longer. Some of these portages are still in use and uninfluenced by civilization. A good type is that between Nictor Lake and Nepisiguit Lake, which I have recently seen. The path is but wide enough to allow a man and canoe to pa.s.s. Where it is crossed by newly fallen trees the first pa.s.ser either cuts them out, steps over them, or goes round, as may be easiest, and his example is followed by the next. In this way the exact line of the path is constantly changing though in the main its course is kept. No doubt some of these paths are of great antiquity. Gesner states that one of the most used, that between Eel River Lake and North Lake, on the route from the St. John to the Pen.o.bscot, had been used so long that the solid rocks had been worn into furrows by the tread of moccasined feet; and Kidder quotes this and comments upon it as probably the most ancient evidence of mankind in New England. A somewhat similar statement is made by Monro as to the Misseguash--Baie Verte portage. I have seen something very similar on the old portage path around Indian Falls on the Nepisiguit, but I am inclined to think it is the hob-nailed and spiked shoes of the lumbermen which have scored these rocks, and not Indian moccasins and it is altogether likely that this explanation will apply also to the case mentioned by Gesner, whose over-enthusiastic temperament led him into exaggerated statements. In New Brunswick the lines of regular travel seem to have followed exclusively the rivers and the portage paths between their heads, and there is no evidence whatever of former extensive trails leading from one locality to another through the woods, such as are well known to have existed in Ma.s.sachusetts. The difference in the distribution and navigability of the rivers amply explains this difference. It is not, of course, to be supposed that the Indians never departed from these routes; in their hunting expeditions they undoubtedly wandered far and wide, and especially in the valleys of the smaller and navigable brooks. Moreover, they undoubtedly had portages used only on rare occasions, and also at times forced their way over between streams where there was no regular route, but in general the main rivers gave them ample facilities for through travel from one part of the Province to another, and they had no other method. The birch canoe was the universal vehicle of locomotion to the New Brunswick Indian; it was to him what the pony is to the Indian of the West.

"The labour of crossing the portages was always severe, but the Indians took, and take, it philosophically, as they do everything that cannot be helped. While canoe travel in good weather, on full and easy rivers, is altogether charming, it becomes otherwise when low water, long portages and bad weather prevail. We obtain vivid pictures of its hardships from the narratives of St. Valier, and from several of the Jesuit missionaries. Since many of the portage paths are still in use by Indians, hunters, and lumbermen, their positions are easy to identify, and many of them are marked upon the excellent maps of the Geological Survey. Many others, however, have been long disused, and have been more or less obliterated by settlement, or by roads which follow them, and these are not marked upon our recent maps. I have made a special effort to determine the exact courses of these portages before they are lost forever, and where I have been able to find them by the aid of residents I have given them on the small maps accompanying this paper. All portages known to me are marked upon the map of New Brunswick, in the Pre-historic or Indian period accompanying this paper, and their routes of travel are in red on the same map. The lines show how thoroughly intersected the Province was by their routes. This map does not by any means mark all the navigable rivers, but only those which form parts of through routes of travel. The relative importance of routes I have tried to represent by the breadth of the lines, the most important routes having the broadest lines. Many of the most ancient portages had distinct names but I have not recovered any of these. Kidder gives as the ancient Indian name of Eel River--North Lake Portage the name Metagmouchchesh (variously spelled by him), and I have heard that more than one was called simply "The Hunters' Portage" by the Indians, possibly to distinguish the less important ones used only in hunting from those of the through routes. When Portages are spoken of at this day they are usually given the name of the place towards which they lead; thus, a person on the Tobique would refer to the portage at the head of that river as the Nepisiguit, or the Bathurst Portage, and on the Nepisiguit, he would speak of it as the Tobique Portage. This usage seems to be old and perhaps it is widespread. Thus Bishop Plessis, in his journal of 1812, speaking of the portage between Tracadie and Tabusintac Rivers (the latter leading to Neguac), says (page 169): 'We reached a portage of two miles which the people of Tracadie call the Nigauek Portage, and those of Nigauek the Tracadie Portage.'

"The situations of many of the old portages are preserved to us in place names. Thus we have _Portage Bridge_, at the head of the Misseguash; _Portage Bank_, on the Miramichi, near Boiestown (not on the maps); _Portage River_, on the Northwest Miramichi, also as a branch of the Tracadie, also west of Point Esc.u.minac, and also south of it; _Portage Brook_, on the Nepisiguit, leading to the Upsalquitch; _Portage Lake_, between Long and Serpentine Lakes; _Portage Station_, on the Intercolonial Railway. Kingston Creek, at the mouth of the Belleisle, was formerly called _Portage Creek_. _Anagance_ is the Maliseet word for Portage; and _Wagan_ and _Wagansis_, on the Restigouche and Grand River, are the Micmac for Portage, and a diminutive of it."[36]

The chief routes of travel were along the sea-coasts and up and down the valley of the St. John River--the latter routes being of most importance.

"Of all Indian routes," writes Dr. Ganong, "in what is now the Province of New Brunswick, the most important by far was that along the River St.

John. This river was, and is, an ideal stream for canoe navigation. It not only has easy communication with every other river system in this and the neighbouring provinces, but it is in itself very easy to travel.... The St. John rises in Maine and its head waters interlock with those of the Pen.o.bscot, and with the Etechemin flowing into the St.

Lawrence near Quebec."

Under the system of the St. John-Restigouche portage Dr. Ganong thus describes the Grand River--Wagan path:

"This was the most travelled of all routes across the Province. The Grand River is easy of navigation up to the Wagansis (i.e., Little Wagan), up which canoes could be taken for some two miles. A level portage of two or three miles leads into the Wagan (Micmac _O-wok-un_, 'a portage') a muddy, winding brook, which flows into the Restigouche, which to its mouth is a swift but smooth-flowing stream, unbroken by a fall, and almost without rapids. The total fall from the portage is not over 500 feet, and hence it is far easier to ascend than the Nepisiguit, and consequently was the main route across from Bay Chaleur to the St. John. For the upper waters of the St. John a route from the mouth of the Nepisiguit by Bay Chaleur to the Restigouche and thence to the St. John would be both considerably shorter and much easier than by the Nepisiguit--Tobique route.

"This portage is marked on Bouchette, 1815, Bonner, 1820, Lockwood, 1826, Wilkinson, 1859, and the Geological Survey Map. On Van Velden's original survey map of the Restigouche, 1786, a 'Carrying-place across the highlands' about nine miles is given, doubtless a portage directly from Wagan to Grand River. This route was taken by Plessis in 1812, (Journal, 267), by Gordon (p. 23), who fully describes it, and by many others. It is said in McGregor's British America, 1833 (II., 66), that the courier then travelled up this river with mails for New Brunswick and Canada, evidently by this route. Formerly the alders which blocked the Wagan and Wagansis were cut out by travellers, and even by workmen paid by the Provincial Government (as I have been told), but since a road has been cut within a few years from the St. John directly through to the Restigouche at the mouth of the Wagan, this route is no longer used, and probably is now practically impa.s.sable."

Of the St. John--St. Lawrence system Dr. Ganong describes seven routes; we use his own words:

TOULADI--TROIS PISTOLES PORTAGE

This was one of the princ.i.p.al routes from the St. John to Quebec. It led through Lake Temiscouata by the Touladi River to Lac des Aigles, thence to Lac des Islets, thence by a short portage path to the Bois-bouscache River and down the Trois Pistoles. This route is described in Bailey and McInnes' Geological Report of 1888, M, pages 26, 28, 29, where it is called "one of the main highways ... between the St. John River and the St. Lawrence."

ASHBERISH--TROIS PISTOLES PORTAGE

Another route from Temiscouata to Trois Pistoles was by way of the Ashberish River. This portage is marked on Bouchette, 1831, and is mentioned by him in his Topographical Dictionary, and by Bailey in his 'St. John River' (page 48). It was by either this or the last-mentioned route that Captain Pote was taken to Quebec in 1745, as he describes in his Journal, but the description is not clear as to which route was followed. The compa.s.s directions and the portages and lakes mentioned by him would rather indicate the Ashberish route, though the editor of the Journal sends him by the Lac des Aigles. This route is shown on the Franquelin-DeMeulles Map of 1686, with the continuous line used on that map for portage routes, and it is probably this route that is marked on Bellin of 1744, and on many following him.

TEMISCOUTA--RIVIeRE DU LOUP PORTAGE

As early as 1746 a portage path was projected along this route where now runs the highway road. A doc.u.ment of 1746 (Quebec MS. IV., 311) reads, "Nous donnons les ordres necessaires pour faire pratiquer un chemin ou sentier d'environ 3 pieds dans le portage depuis la Riviere du Loup a 40 lieues audessous de Quebec jusques au Lac Temisquata d'ou l'on va en canot par la riviere St. Jean jusqu'a Beauba.s.sin, et ce pour faciliter la communication avec l'Escadre et pour y faire pa.s.ser quelques detachement de francois et sauvages s'il est necessaire." Whether or not this path was made we do not know. In 1761 this route was examined by Captain Peach (as a map in the Public Record Office shows), and about 1785, a road was cut along it as a part of the post route from Quebec to Nova Scotia. From that time to the present it has been much travelled, and is often referred to in doc.u.ments and books.

ST. FRANCIS--RIVIeRE DU LOUP PORTAGE

The exact course of this portage I have not been able to locate, but it probably ran from Lake Pohenegamook to some of the lakes on the La Fourche branch of the Riviere du Loup. The Indian name of the St.

Francis, _Peech-un-ee-gan-uk_ means the Long Portage (_Peech_, long, _oo-ne-gun_, a portage, _uk_, locative). The first recorded use of this portage is in Le Clercq in his "etabliss.e.m.e.nt de la Foi." He states that about 1624, Recollet missionaries came to Acadia from Acquitaine, and thence went to Quebec in canoes by the River Loup with two Frenchmen and five Indians. It is first shown roughly on a ma.n.u.script map of 1688, very clearly on Bellin, of 1744, and on several others following him, and on Bouchette of 1815. It is mentioned in a doc.u.ment of 1700 (Quebec MS. V. 348) as four leagues in length. It was by this route St. Valier came from Quebec to Acadia in 1686 or 1687, and a very detailed account of the difficulties of the voyage is given in his narrative. He states that he travelled a short distance on the Riviere du Loup and Riviere des Branches and a long distance on the St. Francis. This route he describes as shorter but harder than that ordinarily used.

On the unpublished DeRozier map of 1699 two portages are shown in this region, one from some branch of what is apparently the St. Francis to the Trois Pistoles, and one from another river to the westward of the St. Francis, perhaps from Lac de l'Est, to the Riviere du Loup, but they are given too inaccurately to admit of identification.

Between the Temiscouata and St. Francis basins are several portages; one from Long Lake at the head of the Cabano to the St. Francis, and another from Long Lake to Baker Lake; and there are other minor ones, all marked on the Geological Survey map.

BLACK RIVER--OUELLE PORTAGE

On some early maps, such as Bellin, 1744, the Ouelle is made to head with a branch of the St. John, which can be only the Black River. The Morris map of 1749 marks a portage from the St. John to the Ouelle, and has this statement: "Expresses have pa.s.sed in seven days by these Rivers from Chiegnecto to Quebec." The exact route of this portage I have not been able to determine.

NORTH-WEST BRANCH--RIVIeRE DU SUD PORTAGE

This portage is first referred to in a letter of 1685 from Denonville to the Minister: "Je joins a cette carte un pet.i.t dessin du chemin le plus court pour se rendre d'icy en huict jours de temps au Port Royal en Acadie, par une riviere que l'on nomme du Sud et qui n'est qu'a huict ou dix lieues au dessous de Quebec. On le ramonte environ dix lieues et par un portage de trois lieues on tombe dans celle de St. Jean qui entre dans la baye du Port Royal." This is probably the Grand Portage referred to by Ward Chipman in one of his letters of the last century.

ST. JOHN LAKE-ETCHEMIN PORTAGE

Portages between these rivers are mentioned by Bouchette under "Etchemin" in his Topographical Dictionary. The river received its name from its use by the Etchemins (Maliseets and Pen.o.bscots) as a route to Quebec.

A large portion of the St. John Valley lies in the state of Maine and all that was true of New Brunswick, so far as early methods of locomotion are concerned, was and is true of Maine in a great measure.

Maine, however, was not bounded on two sides by the ocean.

Both the Kennebec and Pen.o.bscot Rivers were ancient and important routes of travel between Quebec and the sea. Of the two the Pen.o.bscot was, perhaps, the easier to navigate but the Kennebec was the more important route. James Sullivan writing of the Kennebec in the last decade of the eighteenth century observes: "The Kenebeck ... receives the eastern branch, at fifty miles distance from Noridgewock. The main branch of the Kenebeck, winding into the wilderness, forms a necessity for several carrying places, one of which, called the Great Carrying Place, is five miles across, and the river's course gives a distance of thirty-five miles, for that which is gained by five on the dry land. At one hundred miles distance, or perhaps more from the mouth of the eastern branch, the source of the main or western branch of the Kenebeck is found extended a great distance along side the river Chaudiere, which carries the waters from the high lands into the St. Lawrence. The best description of this branch of the Kenebeck, is had from the Officers who pa.s.sed this route under the command of General Arnold, in 1775.... The carrying place from boatable waters in it, to boatable waters in the river Chaudiere, is only five miles over."[37]

Among the most interesting maps of the Kennebec-Chaudiere route may be mentioned Montresor's map of 1761, "A Draught of a route from Quebec to Fort Halifax," in the British Museum.[38] The route is there given as up the "Yadatsou Chaudiere or Kettle River." When Wolf River was reached it was ascended; then to "River Ahoudaounkese." Here was a portage of five miles to within about that distance of Lake Oukeahoungauta; portage of about one half mile to Loon Lake; thence into Moosehead Lake at the head of the east branch of the Kennebec. A portage could be made into the Pen.o.bscot; and at the southeastern extremity of Moosehead Lake are the words "Portage to the Pen.o.bscot." The return route was up the Kennebec to "The Great Carrying Place to River of Tewyongyadight or the Dead River." This was Arnold's route, already referred to by Mr. Sullivan.

Ascending the Dead to "The Amaguntic Carrying Place" (a portage of about four miles) the route is marked to "the River of Mekantique" and through "The meadow of Mekantique;" thence through "Lake of Me' Kantique de St Augustin" and into the Chaudiere.